HR 1370 January 5, 2013

Last night I had a window of opportunity of that famous Florida observing weather. It just couldn't get any better. Not only was it pristine, the outside and inside temperatures were a close match and Mighty Mouse (my Dob) had already been outside for almost 1hr with the fan on. Observing at zenith (Dobson's hole) last night was no problem, like it has been on much too many nights.

I observed from about 8:45pm to 11:00pm, and tried a magnification range from 133x to 480x. My 5mm Zhumell Planetary eyepiece at 240x hit the sweet spot, giving me a good balance of image size, clarity and sharpness, and speed the star crossed my field of view. At 133x it wasn't enough for a split, although I could tell I was looking at a double, and at 480x I was getting a soft image. The usable range was 160x to 400x.

The color of the primary star was a beautiful orange/red, the secondary star appearing a darker bluish teal color. There were a couple of challenges to observing this double. First, the secondary star was positioned where the diffraction ring appeared, often making the secondary disappear from view. Second was a diffuse glare that was beaming from Jupiter, necessitating careful positioning of the star image to keep it out of the glare. No one said it was easy.

This is really a very nice double to observe. I hadn't observed doubles for almost two years and this was a lot of fun that reminded me what it is I like about doubles. Maybe between Jupiter and Saturn I'll turn my attention to these beauties I have been neglecting.

Ed, I love your report, but more importantly...WOW!...what a sketch! I really enjoy how you've represented the diffraction ring. Doubles are quite addictive, indeed. I hope to see more from you. I may quietly mirror your observations when I get the chance. Of course, for me, with that famous CT weather...